Inmates Eating Better than Schoolkids? That's Criminal.
by Nichol Nelson

Processed chicken nuggets, syrupy chocolate milk, heaps of salty French fries: It's no real secret that the state of American public school lunches is a mess. But things are even more depressing than you thought: Inmates – yes, actual criminals behind bars – are probably eating better than our kids.

In a recent article for the Tennessee's Herald-Tribune, reporter Tracey Hackett investigated what comes out of the kitchen at the state's Putnam County Justice Center. She found that each inmate gets two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. (Inmates can buy lunchtime snacks if they have an account, as many do). Hackett found that inmates were typically eating from-scratch, balanced meals -- a far cry from the frozen, chemical-laden processed food our kids are getting.

Sarah Parsons at Sustainable Food, a division of Change.org, makes no bones about it, writing that "When you take a look at the school lunches kids receive in America's cafeterias, jail food looks like a meal at a five-star restaurant."

What's on the menu in prison? One Putnam County Justice Center breakfast consisted of gravy, a biscuit, scrambled eggs, a hash brown patty, pineapple slices, an eight-ounce glass of milk, and some jelly. Dinners are also pretty healthy, typically a sandwich or casserole, two or three servings of vegetables like mashed potatoes, corn and green beans, and sides like cornbread and sweet tea. The inmates even get dessert, like a piece of cake, fruit or a cookie.

And somehow, the prison kitchen managers are doing it for about $1.83 per meal. Schools receive $2.68 for each meal, yet struggle to provide kids with the necessary servings of fruits and veggies. (Congress is currently debating the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act, an $8 billion initiative to improve the nation's school lunches.)

"I find it hard to believe that a prison could find a way to feed its inmates dairy and five servings of fruits and veggies a day, and the best school cafeterias can do is dish out processed chicken patties and rubbery hot dogs," Parsons writes.

"Most of our inmates probably eat more nutritiously while they're in jail than they do when they're not," said Robert Maynard, kitchen manager at the Justice Center. Maynard his staff have an eight-week menu rotation to ensure meal variety, and a random 14-day sample is submitted to a registered dietitian, who can approve the meals or make suggestions to improve their nutritional value.

The point is not that inmates don't deserve nutritious meals -- it's that our kids do, too.

Want to send your kids to school with better lunch options? Check out our back-to-school ideas on KitchenDaily.

New Jersey High School Wins Gold for Fight Against Obesity
By Deborah Huso

While politicians and special interest groups argue about how to address the childhood obesity problem and stem the health-care costs associated with weight-related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, one New Jersey high school is doing something about the crisis.

This week, Memorial High School in West New York, N.J., received the Gold National Recognition Award from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation for doing more to promote healthy eating and lifestyle choices among staff and students than any other school in the United States. Over the last four years, the high school has overhauled its cafeteria menu; made physical fitness a priority for all students, faculty [faculty racing team pictured, left] and staff; and, most importantly, made the choice to live healthy an easy one to make.

"We took the thinking and hassle out of being fit," says John Fraraccio, West New York district supervisor of Health and Physical Education. "We made it convenient."

One of more than 9,000 member schools in the Alliance's Healthy Schools Program, Memorial High was a pilot school for the program supported by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation.

In 2006, the school launched its new healthy lifestyle initiative by first changing the makeup of school meals. Fraraccio says the process started by accident when the school's fryer broke down one day, leading cafeteria staff to start baking French fries. Now the cafeteria not only chooses baking over frying but also offers whole wheat buns, whole wheat pizza dough and a ready-to-order salad bar. Neither sodas nor high-sugar drinks are available for consumption or purchase in the cafeteria.

While Memorial High has long made physical education and health classes mandatory for all grades, the school also started making its fitness center available for staff and student use both before and after school. There is also a teacher who is a personal trainer available to assist students in meeting their fitness goals. Memorial High School also offers a boot camp program and on-site Weight Watchers meetings for faculty and provides yoga classes to both students and teachers.

Nearly 1 in 3 American children is overweight or obese. In February, First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled her Let's Move! partnership bringing together schools, parents, businesses and nonprofits to battle the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

Do you have a question for Michelle about her plan? You can ask her on Tuesday, July 13 at 10 a.m. Eastern time during her first-ever live web chat right here on AOL Health. The first lady will be discussing the newly enhanced Let's Move! website and answering your questions live! To submit a question, send an email to askmichelleobama@aol.com (please include your name and town) between now until Monday, July 12th at 10:00 a.m.

So how did Memorial High get students, parents and teachers to buy in?

According to Fraraccio, it wasn't hard at all.

"We haven't had to encourage," he says. "People want to be healthy."

By making nutritious foods and physical fitness available and easy to access, Fraraccio says the school has made it simple for everyone to choose a healthy lifestyle.

"It's been a total culture change here," he adds.

Fraraccio credits many of the school's staff members with helping to forward the program.

"It's been a grassroots movement," he explains, "and it's been a small investment monetarily."

The school, which serves about 1,600 mostly Hispanic students, has spent only about $30,000 over the course of the last four years to bring healthier food and fitness choices to Memorial High.

"Memorial is a better place to be today," says Fraraccio. "It starts with the adults. If adults are thinking about health, it filters down to the kids."

The West New York school district, as a whole, doesn't plan to slow down, either. Fraraccio says the school system is working to bring the same health mentality to every school in the district, starting with pre-K students.

"Our long-term goal is to get kids to make healthier choices outside the building," he says.

What the hell is wrong with parents who don't know where their 12-year old child is?

DETROIT (AP) _ The night Demarco Harris shot and killed a woman during a robbery on a Detroit street, his parents told police knocking on their door at 2 a.m. they didn't know where their 12-year-old was.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that's indicative of a larger issue in Detroit, where the lack of making parents accountable for their children partly is blamed on elevated truancy and dropout rates, as well as a recent rash of violent crimes involving teens.

Worthy has a new idea she hopes will fix the problem: Jail parents for up to three days for repeatedly missing scheduled parent-teacher conferences.

"I have seen that younger and younger children are committing more violent acts and we need to look at different approaches," Worthy told reporters. "I know we need to try something different. We should not have to legislate this, but what we have been doing is not working."

She's still working on the details, but once her proposal is finished, she hopes to present it to county commissioners in August and persuade them to approve an ordinance. After that, she may take it to state legislators in Lansing.

It's unlikely to quickly become an ordinance because it would probably be challenged in court because civil libertarians say it may be outside the law. Even some teachers, who often spend several hours waiting for parents who don't show up for the conferences, are skeptical.

"I understand the prosecutor's concern, but jail time?" said Detroit middle school teacher Ann Crowley.

Worthy first considered her proposal after a spate of shootings involving students that culminated in the June 2009 wounding of seven teens at a city bus stop. The Demarco Harris' trial convinced her she was on the right track.

He had been in and out of school a lot and his parents rarely met with his teachers. Then came Aug. 1 2009 when authorities were investigating a killing.

"When police went to his parents, his parents were not able to account for his whereabouts and it was about 2 in the morning," Worthy said.

Harris, who is now 13, was convicted in May of killing 24-year-old Trisha Babcock. He was sentenced to a high-security juvenile lockup.

"We're trying to prevent any more Demarco Harrises from going down that road," Worthy said.

Under her plan, Wayne County parents would be required to pick a time and day to attend one parent-teacher conference a year. If that conference is missed, the school would send out a letter to set up another within 14 days. If the second is missed, parents get a letter about sanctions, which could include up to three days in jail.

Parents with health concerns and those whose children are performing above average could be exempt. "I'm not interested in putting parents in jail if their children are high achievers," Worthy said.

Currently attendance at parent-teacher conferences isn't mandatory, and Worthy's plan may be challenged because it could infringe on a parent's civil rights.

"A criminal justice solution is not the answer to complicated social problems," said Kary Moss, executive director of Michigan's American Civil Liberties Union. "The last thing many families in dire situations need is more punishment by the criminal justice community. There's established law already that governs child abuse and neglect, and that sets up the standard for involvement by the government in the family's affairs."

There doesn't appear to be any existing legislation similar to what Worthy wants. She didn't know of any and the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks state laws, didn't know of one. Similar proposals in Texas and Kentucky have failed.

Republican Kentucky state Rep. Adam Koenig submitted a bill last year that didn't make it out of committee. It would have required parents to attend at least one conference with teachers for each child in school. Failure to do so would have meant a $50 fine.

"I wanted to get parental involvement in the schools more attention," Koenig said. "There's a reluctance to fine parents who are often viewed as too busy. I'm of the opinion that there's a lot of people who've paid taxes to have these kids learn. Parents have some responsibility."

The 2007 Texas bill called for fining parents $500 and charging them with a misdemeanor for missing a scheduled parent-teacher conference.

Making sure Detroit students make it to school and stay there through the end of the day has long been a problem. The average student missed 46 days last school year.

Worthy's office penalizes parents and guardians for school truancy. But by the time prosecutors get involved, large chunks of classroom time already have been missed. Hundreds of cases are reviewed each year, but only 50 or so result in prosecution. Educational neglect is a misdemeanor that carries up to 90 days in jail and a fine for parents. Older students could end up in juvenile court.

Derek Muhammad, who has a son in high school, has never attended a conference with a teacher, saying it's hard to find the time while working. The 40-year-old said it's also up to students to understand what's required of them in terms of school achievement and positive behavior.

"Anytime you're talking about a penalty that will take away the parent from the child who already is in trouble, then you have a very dangerous outcome," said Muhammad, a motivational speaker. "There's anger from the student, time away from the parent and hostility toward whatever caused that, and that's the school system."

Caught in the middle are teachers, who want to help students succeed, but struggle to compel parents to have the same interest.

Former Detroit special education teacher Emily Williams said it was disheartening when 3 out of 15 parents would attend meetings.

"Sometimes I would call home. Sometimes the phone was cut off. If you send a letter home, sometimes it wouldn't get to the parents," she said.

Instead of jailing parents, Williams suggests Worthy give them community service.

"A lot (of homes) are headed by single parents," she said. "If momma is not coming home, who is going to watch the kids?"

McDonald's China defends chemical used in Chicken McNuggets
Damanick Dantes

The chemical name is harder to pronounce than "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, etc." Still, it's causing McDonald's representatives in China to insist that the additive--used in Chicken McNuggets--is "harmless," despite claims to the contrary by some medical experts.

The chemical in question, tertiary Butylhydroquione, is a petroleum-based product that can cause health effects such as stomach tumors in lab animals when administered in high doses. The compound, used in McDonald's Chicken Mcnuggets, meets Chinese food safety standards. However, Liu Qingchung, a nutritionist at the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces, was quoted in China Daily as stating that the chemical used in McDonald's chicken nuggets is "toxic to some extent."

Here is an ides. Stop eating at McDonald's and save your child's life. Nothing there is safe.

The additive is also used in McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. and Japan, where it also meets national health standards. Meanwhile, China's State Food and Drug Administration will continue to monitor the safety of McNuggets.

The situation is of particular concern in a nation where poultry is the second most-consumed meat after pork. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that demand this year is estimated at more than 12.6 million tons, adding that safety concerns about food have risen in China since contaminated milk powder killed at least six babies in 2008 and sickened about 300,000 children. That same year, pesticide-tainted dumplings imported from China sickened at least 10 people in Japan.

Figuring out how to keep children safe from child molesters released from prison is a longstanding problem facing American society, since even neighborhood notification programs can only do so much. Protecting kids from predators who escaped criminal punishment, as most clergy accused in the Catholic abuse scandal did, is likewise a dilemma.

The Catholic Church hoped to have a better solution, since it could insist that priests found to have abused children but who were beyond the reach of the law might be closely monitored and kept away from minors if they remained priests in the employ of a bishop.

But an investigation by The Associated Press has found that a number of clergy who were considered too old or ill to be dismissed from the priesthood are in fact not being supervised, as the Catholic bishops had promised they would be as part of a package of reforms adopted in 2002.

The AP found that bishops were more likely to defrock (or "laicize," in the technical term) priests, and that only a few dioceses had any oversight programs for priest-molesters who remained. Bishops found that monitoring priests was costly, and that keeping abusers in the priesthood -- even though they were barred from active or public ministry -- could expose them to further liability if the men assaulted children again.

"In many instances, it's a decision based on whether there is the probability of being able to provide the monitoring that's necessary," said Sister Sharon Euart, a canon lawyer who advises bishops and religious orders. If they can't, they may be more likely to begin the process of removing them from the priesthood, she said.

That effectively sends these abusers out into the general population with no oversight.

"Some dioceses really have laicized everybody," Monica Applewhite, a consultant who conducts abuse-prevention training and helps develop policies and monitoring programs for dioceses and religious orders, told The AP.

There is no solid information on how many dioceses have programs to monitor abusers who remain priests, though Applewhite estimates just a few hundred accused clergy are now under supervision around the country.

Child abusers tend to be compulsive offenders who have a high rate of recidivism, which makes parole more of a gamble than even for murderers and other convicts.

The difficulty is twofold: abusers who remain priests are not being supervised adequately, and those who choose to leave or are kicked out of the priesthood then sever their ties with the diocese, which has no leverage over them.

Civil authorities cannot monitor them, and even if they had the right to do so, they are unlikely to dedicate resources to such tasks when they could be better used going after current child abusers who pose a bigger danger.